You don't really have to close it - Python will do it automatically either during garbage collection or at program exit. But as @delnan noted, it's better practice to explicitly close it for various reasons.
So, what you can do to keep it short, simple and explicit:
with open('pagehead.section.htm','r') as f:
output = f.read()
Now it's just two lines and pretty readable, I think.
with
statement the file resource will be closed properly for you. – David Alber Nov 4 '11 at 15:46with
statement makes sure the file is closed "correctly", it's even better than an explicitclose
. And it should be available in GAE's Python 2.5. See effbot.org/zone/python-with-statement.htm – Mark Ransom Nov 4 '11 at 15:48output = f.read()
part on the same line after the:
. – Karl Knechtel Nov 4 '11 at 16:03